Jumron Has Form to Win

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 6, 1995

In the Sensational '70s, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed won the Triple Crown, and Spectacular Bid, Foolish Pleasure, Bold Forbes and Riva Ridge won the Kentucky Derby.

Since then, there has been little rhyme or reason to America's most famous horse race, with only Sunday Silence meriting comparison to horses from the recent past.

No betting favorite or 2-year- old champion has won the Kentucky Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979 (Sunday Silence was the second choice behind arch-rival Easy Goer, the 2-year-old champ).

With overflow fields such as

the 19 entrants for today's 121st running, with horses coming from all over the country and overseas, with previous races often providing little indication of Derby performance, the race has become the ultimate handicapping challenge.

Certainly, it has been a challenge for the Sporting Green, which has picked just one winner (Pleasant Colony, 1981) in 16 tries.

This year the choice was made early on, when Jumron first came to Bay Meadows, to run in the California Juvenile Stakes on December 26.

A colleague from the Daily Racing Form pointed to Jumron's past performances.

"It takes a special horse to do that," he said.

What Jumron had done was to race four times in 22 days -- four consecutive Saturdays in October. He had three wins and a second, and handled every kind of track condition: sloppy track, fast track, one turn, two turns, 350-mile van rides back and forth between Portland Meadows and Hastings Park in Vancouver, B.C.

Jumron then was purchased by Charles Dunn and sent to Southern California trainer Gary Lewis. Jumron didn't win the Cal Juvenile, but he did rally strongly down the stretch before losing by a head.

Since then, Jumron has advanced smartly toward today's date with destiny, winning two more stakes at Bay Meadows and proving his class in a fast-closing third-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby.

He has been training superbly at Churchill Downs.

"The pluses are the long stretch here, the way he handles the turns and the fact that he can lay close to the pace and still have an effective finish," Lewis said. "I wouldn't trade places with anyone."

As for the rest of the field, look for Thunder Gulch, Suave Prospect, Eltish and Dazzling Falls to outrun their longshot odds.

Thunder Gulch pinned a couple of photo decisions on Suave Prospect in Florida, then ran fourth in the Blue Grass. Four of the five Derby winners in the '90s lost their final prep race.

Suave Prospect looks a lot like Go For Gin, a horse with speed who had more seconds than wins leading up to the Derby. Trainer Nick Zito has won two of the last four Derbys (Strike The Gold, Go For Gin).

Eltish has run all but one of his seven races in England, but the exception was a strong second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November at Churchill Downs.

Dazzling Falls made powerful stretch runs to win the Remington Park and Arkansas derbies after blinkers were added to his equipment.

What of the favorites -- the filly Serena's Song and her entrymate, Timber Country, plus Talking Man and Afternoon Deelites?

Serena's Song has five straight wins, including the Jim Beam Stakes, against male opponents. But she was able to control the pace that day; there will be many more challenges today. Perhaps she will be up to them, but do you want to take 5-to-2 to find out?

Talkin Man had it too easy in both his prep races, the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Is he adequately prepared to gut it out today?

Afternoon Deelites has five wins and a second -- in the Santa Anita Derby (beaten by a head by the since-injured Larry The Legend) -- but today's 1 1/4-mile distance appears to be beyond his capabilities.

Timber Country, the 2-year-old champion in 1994, is winless in three starts this year, with his worst effort coming in the Santa Anita Derby.

No horses like the ones from the 1970s are in this year's Kentucky Derby. But there is one special horse: Jumron.